Global warming… I mean climate change… Is so 2009

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According to a study released by the U.K government shows a sharp decline in public ‘concern’ in global warming. Sorry. Climate change.

Via The Mail (UK):

The number of people willing to alter the way they live in the hope of making a difference to global warming fell by around 10 per cent last year.

There was also a sharp drop in those who regarded themselves as ‘fairly concerned’ about climate change.

The figures, released by the Government yesterday, suggest that doubts about global warming have been growing since the summer of 2009.

This was before the damage inflicted on the cause by the ‘Climategate’ scandal later that year, in which leading scientists were accused of manipulating data to support the case of man-made climate change.

The credibility of global warming and concern about halting it appears to have been affected by the succession of three cold winters between 2008 and 2010.

The study also shows that there is a growing skepticism about green energy as well.

More recently, doubts about the efficiency of wind turbines and the high costs of the Coalition’s drive for renewable energy have seen enthusiasm for the cause dwindling.

Fewer than two thirds now say they are at least ‘fairly concerned’ about climate change or that they are prepared to do something about it, figures published by the Department for Transport said.

While it is good to see people waking up, there still is a significant (nearly two thirds) portion of the British population is still on board with the global warming fraud / hoax.

An extra big tip O’ the hat to Tom Nelson for high lighting the article.

A video all leftists should watch

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This short video from the Adam Smith Institute is informative and interesting.

YouTube Preview Image

I like the bit about “this is mistake Karl Marx made.”

Scary Graphs: Why I don’t feel like I’m getting ahead

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If you ever get the ‘I’m not getting ahead’ feeling, the following graphs from the National Inflation Association will help explain why you feel this way.

The median American family was earning over $100,000 per year in today’s dollars during the 1970s.

The average American has been earning less per hour (adjusted for real inflation) and seeing a decline in their standard of living since the early 1970s after we left the gold standard.The Dow Jones divided by the price of gold. After the inflationary crisis of the 1970s, the Dow/Gold ratio bottomed at 1

There has been a whole lot of inflation happening over the past few decades, and as the above graphs illustrate, the average American has been losing ground in real purchasing power.

So, if you here the “hey, the DOW is over 1300 so the economy is back and Obama is great” spin, remember the above graphs. And these graphs as well.

Markets don’t fail… Politicians on the other hand…

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When you see nonsense such as this:

Democrats call for broader investigation into banks’ foreclosure processes

…….

Meanwhile, Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings, ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asking him to bring high-ranking executives from the nation’s biggest mortgage banks to Capitol Hill testify about foreclosure abuses.

“Rather than using its substantial investigative powers to protect American consumers from the abuses of banks, the committee has focused instead on attacking the new agency created by Congress to protect these same consumers,” Cummings wrote.

Miller said the settlement won’t likely include enough relief for those who are underwater on their mortgages. He and Brown said they don’t yet know what mortgages are subject to the settlement because negotiations are ongoing.

Remember, markets don’t fail.

But markets don’t “fail.” They respond rationally, quickly and often brutally to conditions as they find them. If they see a shortage of supply or an excess of demand, they’ll drive prices higher. Conversely, excess supply or falling demand drives prices lower. If you’re looking for villains, examine why supply is constricted or inflated or why demand is stifled or encouraged. But don’t blame the markets for responding accordingly.

Politicians, on the other hand, do.

For example, the onset of the financial crisis three or four years ago was largely due in the US and the UK to excessive demand for mortgages from people who couldn’t afford them. In the US, this was driven by government mandates to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do just that – pump up demand for housing. In the UK, tight restrictions on construction limited supply to a market that quite rationally came to believe home ownership was a sound substitute for more productive investment.
In both cases, the bankers’ cost of funding was distorted by deliberately low official interest-rate policies, the implicit knowledge they wouldn’t be allowed to fail and lax competition enforcement that led to the likes of Royal Bank of Scotland swallowing up competitors. The logical response by the markets was to divert money to housing, just as the politicians wanted.

How could anyone think government is going to solve this, or any other economic mess, when the government created the mess in the first place.

Sunday Morning Links: The “Tooth Picks, Bug Eaters, Pukes and Suckers” Edition

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click for larger version

This is so cool. Via Strange Maps @ Big Think.

The map’s link to Sus domesticus [1] is via the company that produced it: H.W. Hill & Co. This Decatur, Illinois outfit were the sole manufacturers of Hill’s hog ringers, Hill’s triangular rings, calf and cow weaners, stock markers &c. On the map, we see one pig per state or territory, each with one of H.W. Hill’s trademarked triangles through its nose.

But that is as far as product placement goes. Even though it was printed in [H.W. Hill’s] own advertising department, the map is a deft example of oblique advertising – a clear-cut case of 19th-century viral marketing.

For its main attraction were not H.W. Hill’s markers, weaners and rings. It was mailed out – for five one-cent stamps – as a tableau entitled: “Nicknames of the States”. It’s always interesting, and perhaps a little titillating, to see what names you’re being called by others, and to know how to return the mockery [2]. And it helps that all involved are portrayed as that most unloved of domestic animals, the pig.

For us, the map holds one extra appeal: in the almost 130 years since its publication, the nickname landscape has shifted somewhat. A few have remained popular, but many have fallen into disuse. Curiously, next to the sobriquets that are insults or compliments, a few are merely descriptive, and some states and territories don’t even get one. Somehow, that feels like the worst option.

Included in this post, are close ups of the more interesting areas taken from a high res version of the map downloaded from the Library of Congress.

On to the links…

CH2.0: The reports of Mitt Romney’s “inevitability” have been greatly exaggerated.
The Eye: Rightward Ho an Electoral No? Edition
TBA (formally GTBTBA) has a new look and the same great content: What do they mean by ‘choice’?
LaS: Recess? Don’t Talk About Recess!
WyBlog: Pipeline Dreams Busted By Green Schemes

MTTM: Rep Walberg Responds To Administration’s Rejection Of Keystone Pipeline
Moonbattery: Gear Up for Maximal Mudslinging
LD Jackson: Democrats Want a Reasonable Profits Board for Gas and Oil Companies
FCBZ: Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho… Obama Shuts Down Disney World to Talk to 150 Special Invitees about Tourism
RR: Newt Gingrich “The Establishment is Right to Be Worried About a Gingrich Nomination”

Pundette: Call off the coronation
Zilla: Quick Resister Update
SJ: Newt Gingrich- Once again the left is trying to manipulate the right
Spellchek: U.S. seeks to expand its role as global cop
TMGGB: Ron Paul’s concession speech sounded more like a clarion call to the American people than a concession speech
theCL: Ron Paul — The Spirit of 76!

Gator: *VIDEO* The Newtster Delivers Victory Speech Following South Carolina Primary Blowout
The Other: Why is Romney doing such a lousy job defending his record at Bain Capital?
Republican Mother: Not a Dime’s Worth of Difference 
Wade: The Defence of Fort McHenry
WWTFT: Michigan – A Canadian State

Hmmm….

I’m sure the Germans really love buying electricity from France.

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Solar power is not cutting it in Germany because the 1.1 million solar systems in Germany have generated almost no electricity for weeks. Via Der Spiegel:

The only thing that’s missing at the moment is sunshine. For weeks now, the 1.1 million solar power systems in Germany have generated almost no electricity. The days are short, the weather is bad and the sky is overcast.
As is so often the case in winter, all solar panels more or less stopped generating electricity at the same time. To avert power shortages, Germany currently has to import large amounts of electricity generated at nuclear power plants in France and the Czech Republic. To offset the temporary loss of solar power, grid operator Tennet resorted to an emergency backup plan, powering up an old oil-fired plant in the Austrian city of Graz.

I’m sure the German public loves the idea of purchasing power from the Czech Republic.

And France. I’m sure the Germans really love buying electricity from France.

The Spiegel story continues.

Solar energy has gone from being the great white hope, to an impediment, to a reliable energy supply. Solar farm operators and homeowners with solar panels on their roofs collected more than €8 billion ($10.2 billion) in subsidies in 2011, but the electricity they generated made up only about 3 percent of the total power supply, and that at unpredictable times.

The distribution networks are not designed to allow tens of thousands of solar panel owners to switch at will between drawing electricity from the grid and feeding power into it. Because there are almost no storage options, the excess energy has to be destroyed at substantial cost. German consumers already complain about having to pay the second-highest electricity prices in Europe.

Makes sense doesn’t it? Sink $10.2 billion of tax payer money into a green energy scheme that drives up costs and makes you more depended on foreign sources of energy?

Sounds familiar. 

Much like Frederic Bastiat’s classic “broken window” economic model

You can almost hear Art Laffer saying “I told you so”

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After 67% tax increase, Illinois continues to be in a precarious fiscal position.

Topinka says this is extremely disappointing, since a year ago, the state sharply increased income taxes (by 67 percent) and corporate taxes.

“After the largest tax hike in our history, the state continues to be in this precarious fiscal position with persistent payment delays, and frankly, the situation is unlikely to significantly improve in the near term,” she said.

You can almost hear Art Laffer saying “I told you so.”